Maths in France: An Irish perspective

On this page, I hope to offer a short guide to maths master degrees in France. There seems to be an absence of English-language information on the topic. There is also not a strong tradition of Irish students studying in France, unlike in the UK and Germany, so there tends to be fewer people to ask for advice. This page is aimed at Irish undergrad students who are thinking of applying for a master in France.

Generalities: France follows the Bologna system. Undergraduate degrees are meant to last three years and master degrees last two. For some strange reason, Ireland does not do this. The degree in mathematics in Trinity lasts four years, not three. In France, master degrees are split into M1 (first year of master) and M2 degrees (second year) with completely separate application processes. Coming from Ireland with a four year undergrad, you can skip the M1 and apply directly to M2s. On the other hand, students who haven't done a four-year pure maths degree should consider doing M1 (a more traditional fourth year) prior to the M2.

Paris: France is very centralised around Paris. I strongly recommend you study there, even if you want to do a PhD afterwards in another French city. Most PhD students in France seem to have done master degrees in Paris (even if they studied elsewhere for their bachelors). The only other French city worth looking into is Lyon.

Universities: There are a lot of universities in Paris. Most of them don't have maths departments. The most largest, mathematically speaking, of these are as follows. Note that French universities change their names basically every two years, so I've tried to give a complete list of recent names

• Paris 6: Sorbonne Université AKA the former Université Pierre et Marie Curie. This is a big campus in Jussieu, essentially in the heart of Paris, and can reasonably be called the main centre of French mathematics. They also recently removed all the asbestos from the building so it is now mostly safe.
• Paris 7: Université de Paris. This is a modern campus in Rive Gauche, a little bit out of the city centre but still firmly in Paris intramuros. The main mathematical research laboratory (the IMJ-PRG) is shared between Paris 6 and 7.
• Paris 11: Université Paris-Saclay AKA Université Paris-Sud. This located quite far from Paris in the sleepy towns of Bures-sur-Yvette and Orsay. It is about 40min south of Paris on the RER-B. The main maths laboratory is Laboratoire de Mathématiques d'Orsay (but there are a few others)
• Paris 13: Université Sorbonne Paris Nord. This is not in Paris, but much closer to the city than Paris 11. The maths is mainly located on the Villetaneuse campus, which is maybe 4km north of the Paris ringroad. The maths department is LAGA (which is also shared with Université Paris 8).

In addition, there are several smaller universities (grandes écoles) like École Normale Supérieure (ENS) and l'École Polytechnique (l'X), with a significant research focus. These generally do not offer courses at M2 level (some of the Paris city centre master courses are hosted in ENS and College de France). Additionally, some other Paris facs have smaller maths departments, such as Paris-Est and Paris Descartes.

Master Courses: There are two main pure maths master degrees in Paris.

1. The laboratories in Paris 6, 7, 13 form a confederation called the FSMP. The main pure maths M2 degree of Paris city center is run via by the FSMP. A link to the course page of this master can be found here.. There is generous funding available, especially for foreign students. You can apply for this through the FSMP here.
2. The second master degree is that based in Paris 11. The course page can be found here. There is once again generous funding available, you can apply for that here. Unlike the Paris city centre master, this master is primarily focused on arithmetic geometry.

Courses: With both masters, you are able to take any course offered in the Paris region, at least as long as you don't mind the treck from Orsay to Paris (or worse, from Orsay to Villetaneuse). This is especially encouraged in the second semester, due to the number of specialised courses on offer. This means that there are probably 20 pure maths courses on offer at any one time. Generally, you follow two at once so eight in total. (people often follow more than that but then only sit the exam for two).

Memoire During your master degrees you have an internship. You need to email lecturers, anywhere in France, yourself to find someone willing to take you; the general idea being that hopefully this will be your future PhD advisor. Normally, you then write a thesis in their lab, under their supervsion. You get paid (around 1000 euro in total) for this. The thesis is not expected to contain original research.

Formality: France is a much more formal country than Ireland. You should not refer to your lecturers by first name (normally you say "monsieur") and you should use "vous" rather than "tu" when addressing them. Also, it is my general impression that lecturers in France care less about teaching than lecturers in Ireland.

Lectures: Lectures and tutorials (TDs) are much longer than in Ireland. They range in length from 2hrs to 4.5hrs. Tutorials are much more participative than in Ireland, it's common for the chargé de TD to select students at random to solve problems in front of the class.

Homework: Homework doesn't really seem to exist at master level in France.

Exams: Master courses in France have two exams (and no other forms of assessment). You have a midterm (partiel examen) and a final exam (examen). Your grade was computed according to the formula: max(final, 0.5*midterm+0.5*final). Exams in master were generally open book. This means that they were problem-based not theory-based. They also tended be quite long, the questions tended to have a lot of parts. Some parts were easy and some parts tended to require insight. Generally there wasn't past papers available. One exception is David Harari (who used to regularly teach the first semester algebraic geometry course at Orsay) who compiled some of his past papers here, some of which are in English. Because there is less need to spend time learning proofs off etc., there is generally no study week at master level - the exam takes either takes the place of the last lecture or immediately follows it.

Language issues: Courses in the master are generally in French (all but one of mine were). Theoretically, master courses are supposed to be taught in English if a single student requests it. This is not at all what happens in practice. On the other hand, mathematical French is much easier to understand than conversational French. The written French on the blackboard is easier still. You are allowed to write exams in English - this isn't a problem at all.

Lodgings: Accomodation is very cheap in Orsay (CROUS accomodation is €200 a month and private sector accomodation is €450 for a colocation). This is not the case in Paris, expect to pay around €700 for colocation and €1100 for a studio. Cité Universitaire is an excellent option - every country has a seperate house, though since Ireland is small, College Franco-Britannique deals with the Irish students. A room there costs €500 and a studio is €900. You need to apply very early to stand a chance of getting a room there though - I never managed it. To get private sector accomodation, you need a guarantor. The French government has a free one for students called Visale. You will also be able to avail of a type of housing assistance called CAF.

Food: Meals in student restaurants cost €3.30. If you're a boursier (a special scholarship given to students from poorer backgrounds), it's €1. Groceries in Paris are comparable to Ireland (maybe a bit cheaper)

Fees: French university fees are around €300 per year.

Bureaucracy: The bureaucracy during a master degree, while extreme by Irish standards, really isn't that bad by French standard. You will need to bring a lot of documents to Scolarité Centrale to get issued with a student card and this make take two or three months.